Former Bafana Bafana coach Clive Barker says that Varsity Football provides an ideal platform for the South African stars of the future.
Barker, who famously coached Bafana Bafana to the African Cup of Nations title in 1996 on home soil, says the tournament will help young players to get more game time.
Barker also made a heartfelt plea to Premier Soccer League coaches to watch the games and monitor players with potential and sign them to
boost the junior national teams and Bafana Bafana.
“These types of competitions have to be staged every year because they will help the SA football association to groom the new
generations of players.
“People often criticise the local football association for failing to re-build the senior national teams, but where are they going to get
the players to do that?
“The Varsity Football tournament helps the young players to play at a competitive level.
“This is a great initiative it will help speed up development for the players, referees and coaches. I also like the fact that we are talking about university student and that means they know that football is a short term career and that education is the key to success,” said Barker.
Barker said development is a thorny issue in SA and that something needs to be done to help to fast track the sport.
“We need to put a programme into place that will help to monitor these players Varsity Football are putting their programme live on
television it makes things easy and coaches and scouts are quick to spot talented players.
“But we need more initiative like this to unearth players. The quality of players needs to be produced but more work still needs to be done,” he said.
Barker is currently coaching Mpumalanga Black Aces in the PSL. Last year he helped the Premiership rookies to secure an eighth position in
the 16-team log.
He promised to keep an eye on the progress on Varsity Football and hopefully snatch a talented player to join his side.
By Charles Baloyi – sports writer for the Daily Sun and Sunday Sun
